A First for Women's Basketball

In an unprecedented move for women’s basketball, the sport now has its first million dollar coach.

Million dollar salaries for the coaches of men’s basketball teams are common. Coaches of major universities and the NBA have very lucrative deals. This trend had yet reached women’s basketball until now.

Pat Summitt, the coach of the University of Tennessee’s Lady Vols and the winningest coach ever in all of college basketball, yesterday became women’s basketball first coach to make more than a million dollars a year.

In Summitt’s six year contract, she will start off making $1.125 million the first year. That is $325,000 for her base salary, $350,000 in TV and radio deals, $300,000 in endorsement deals, and $150,000 in public relations funds. By the sixth year on her contract, for the 2011-2012 season, Summitt will be making $1.5 million.

There are also potentials for bonuses in her contract. These bonuses include:

-$10,000 for having a graduation success rate of 80%
-$15,000 for the team having a cumulative GPA of at least 2.75
-$25,000 for being named the SEC Coach of the Year
-$50,000 for being named the National Coach of the Year
-$75,000 for being the SEC regular-season or tournament champion
-$100,000 for a Final Four appearance
-$250,000 for winning a national championship

This is an amazing feat in women’s basketball, and a great achievement for Summitt who interestingly started with this program as a graduate assistant making $250 a month.